Everything I Never Wanted
by Miku Siran
Summary: Temperance Brennan awoke in a new house, a new husband, a baby down the hall, and no recollection of how she got there. There's an unshaken feeling of wrongness to her seemingly happy life, but the truth may cost her her life. BB Currently on Hiatus
1. Emily

Chapter One

Emily

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Bones. All characters belong to Hart Hanson, Kathy Reichs, FOX, and their respective owners.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Bones!" Booth roared as he raced after her in the deserted street. A sharp pain shot up his leg as he felt his not fully healed gunshot wound protest the strenuous exercise so soon after injury and he fell to his knees with pain etched in every line on his face.

"BONES!" He yelled again, hoping for once she would listen to him. "Don't you dare keep running!"

She didn't answer as she sped up in time with their suspect's racing footsteps. They turned a corner as she saw the suspect race into a warehouse, slamming the door behind him.

She slammed into the closed door before pulling the latch up and pulling it open.

She was greeted with complete darkness as she slowed her steps. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her flashlight as she fumbled in the darkness. Her breath came hard and fast from how hard she had been running.

A slight shift in the air followed up hurried footsteps. She whirled to find no one behind her. More scratches and footsteps. She whirled again, grappling for the gun that Booth had slipped into her pocket before they started the chase.

Just as her fingers closed around the weapon, she felt a heavy sharp object collide with the back of her skull. She dropped like a stone without uttering a sound as the weapon and flashlight tumbled from her hands. A shadow fell across her face as red blood oozed from the jagged gash on her head.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

She sat up breathing hard as she awoke from the nightmare. The black cami she was wearing felt scratchy against her skin. Sunlight streamed in from the spotless windows and birds chattered, welcoming the new day with endless enthusiasm.

She rubbed her forehead as she felt the beginnings of a migraine.

"Good morning beautiful." Came a soothing voice from the doorway.

She looked up into the eyes of a blue eyed man with a warm smile and jumped to her feet, her body automatically moving into a fighting stance while her mind had no recollection of where it had learned it.

"Where am I?" She asked, confusion written on her face. Her memory was foggy as if she had awoken from a ten year nap. She couldn't remember her own name or who she was. Panic rose in her chest.

"At home sweetheart, with me." He said softly, sitting down and taking her hand.

She pulled herself out of his range of touch. "Who's Bones?" She said outloud, voicing her thoughts without even realizing it.

He looked at her confused. "I'm Mark, you're Emily. Our last name is Shelby. I have no idea where Bones came from.

"My name is Emily?" She asked.

He sighed and looked at her feet. "It happened again didn't it?"

"What are you talking about?" she questioned. "And you better tell before I send your balls up to live in your throat."

"Sweetie just calm down." He soothed, "Here sit down."

He gave her a gentle pull and she plopped down on the side of the bed beside him. "You had an accident. Your memory hasn't been the same since. You have your off days where you don't remember me or our daughter or the life we've made." He explained gently.

She felt coldness seep under her skin. How could she have a family, everything she ever secretly wanted and not have any idea how she got it?

"What happened to me?" she asked.

"A very bad man named Seeley Booth hit you over the head while you were walking home one night. It was enough to cause some damage to the part of your brain that stores memory." Mark murmured softly.

She shook her head. "I don't remember." She whispered.

"I know, but it's okay. We'll just start over again, just like last time and the time before that." He reassured. "Now let's go see our daughter Kyra. You usually feel better after you play with her."

Brennan was a strong woman. She rarely felt scared and never intimidated, but right now she was frightened. She had no memory of this man or this house or the supposed daughter she had. She didn't remember, but this man's overwhelming charm did manage to convince her to trust him, at least for now. She followed him out of the room and thought to herself.

"If what he's saying is true, then he must be in more pain than me."

Part of her was curious, another was unsure, another was happy. The house was nice, beautiful. The sun was streaming through the curtains, she would hearing the soft babbling of a young child in another room. Everything seemed so normal. A family, a child, a husband that had just had her threaten to kick his ass yet held nothing against her.

She would have never said it outloud, but it felt as wrong as it was right. _Who am I?_ she wondered. _Is he lying? Emily better to find our for yourself._

She made up her mind to do so, but something compelled her to try this life. She didn't know why, something forced her to accept it, as if she had wanted it all along.

Still she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was sinisterly wrong despite the warm and sunny appearance of the world before her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Booth sat in his office staring off into a blank wall. His badge and gun lay untouched on his desk as he lost himself in his own thoughts.

Him falling as the pain shot up in his leg. A previous injury that came back to hit him at the worst possible moment. Her footsteps as she raced after the suspect. The lone flashlight and his gun laying in a puddle of red blood without a trace of her in sight. The time that passed between then and now.

He put his face in his hands and fought back the urge to be sick, to cry, to weep, to break. His job was to protect her and he failed. Not only that but she was still missing.

It had been six months. Six months of time not knowing if she was alive, dead, or in pain. In time, one by one of the squints had given up. Been convinced that she was dead. That she was never coming back.

Angela had married Hodgins recently after finally realizing that her best friend would never be her maid of honor. The wedding had been bittersweet with tears of grief mingled with tears of joy.

Camille had tried to hire a replacement but everyone that came left within a week. Booth made sure of that and in time, she gave up as well. No one could replace Bones' genius, her brilliance, how she never failed to miss a single detail. Her office now remained empty and Booth had made sure her stuff was left untouched. He refused to believe that she was dead and told himself that if she ever came back she would have been furious to find her stuff moved. He nearly laughed at the thought, Bones angry. It was a sight he loved to see. In fact, any expression she would have had, he would have been overjoyed to see. Simply just to see her again, hear her laugh, her quirky manner, anything.

Zach had found a job elsewhere after realizing his teacher and mentor was not going to return. He was smart and he had known he would have never found anyone who could've taught him as much as Brennan did. He had left and torn by the bitter memories left in the Jeffersonian, and soon after Angela and Hodgins had as well.

Booth, however, could not leave. He could not believe she was dead despite the fact that everyone else told him so. He couldn't find her. He couldn't let her go.

She was so strong, always telling him that she could take care of herself. She was a fighter and he put his faith in her to stay alive and to wait for him to save her. He did before and he refused to give in now.

"Bones..." He whispered softly, hoping that somewhere out there she could hear him. "I'm not giving up, not on you. Never on you."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note:

This is my first Bones story so I'm hoping everyone liked it. Tell me if you think I should continue or not. Thanks for reading!


	2. Missing Persons Case

Chapter Two

Missing Persons Case

Thanks to TV Angel 711, squillyfer, Aria-wolfstar, jade254, Scuddyrific, katiedid531, KristieM, YouAndMe Kelly, Melissa, rosyle, mardi55, Bella-mi-amore, krazegirl, rae for their reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Bones. I merely write and hope that someone likes it. I do not make a profit. I only wish I did.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Mommy!" An adorable five year old ran out of her bedroom and launched herself into Brennan's arms. She had blonde curly ringlets of hair with large brown eyes that held tints of green in them. Small for her age.

"Hey easy there kiddo, Mommy just got up." Mark laughed.

Brennan swung the child onto her hip and wondered where the hell she had learned to do that. Kids? Her kid? Five year olds? Her mind was spinning as the child snuggled into her arms and became quiet. Mark grinned at her, kissed her cheek because she turned her face so that he couldn't land one on her lips and left for work.

She was left staring into the wide eyes of an innocent child that stared back at her.

She put Kyra down only to have the child latch onto her leg. She gave an exasperated sigh. Why did she feel so awkward around her own child?

"Are you hungry?" She asked gently, unsure of what to do.

Kyra nodded slowly fixing two shy brown eyes on Brennan. Brennan took her hand and led her into the kitchen and started making pancakes. Unsure of how she remembered to do it. She glanced back at Kyra who was still watching her silently. The child was so gosh darn shy and it unnerved Brennan. This was supposed to be her child, yet there was no connection. It drove her crazy.

"Here you go." She said laying a plate of chocolate chip pancakes before Kyra, feigning a cheerful tone.

"Thank you." She answered politely and taking a slow bite.

"So what do you want to do today?" Brennan asked Kyra.

"We're not supposed to leave the house." Kyra answered.

Brennan raised her eyebrows, slightly confused. "Why?" She probed.

"Because Daddy will be mad." Kyra chewed and replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Why would Daddy be mad?" Brennan asked. Mark was sweet and charming and she found it hard to imagine him angry.

"Because someone might recognize you and Daddy will yell and hit!" Kyra cried.

Brennan stared at the child with awestruck disbelief plastered over her paling face. Kyra burst into floods of tears that oozed out of her eyes in fat droplets. Brennan enclosed her in a warm hug, shushing her with quiet words of comfort.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Seeley we have a case." Cam called as she knocked on his door and then headed out again with her coat swung over her shoulder.

"I have one already." He muttered, still looking down at his desk where papers and files were scattered everywhere.

She stopped walking and backtracked into his office. She saw the files and him bent over in concentration. She walked up behind and read the name on the file. Temperance Brennan.

She sighed deeply and sat down at the edge of his desk, placing a hand on his chest and taking the files out of his hands. "Sit." She ordered, giving him a slight push to reinforce the order.

He grudgingly sat down and tried to grab the file back. "I'm not giving up on her Cam. I can't. She's alive and waiting for us to find her."

Cam placed a hand on his shoulder. "No Seeley. She's not coming back. She's gone. Please accept that. Please move on." She pleaded.

The truth was Brennan had been her friend. In some ways they had formed a love/hate relationship in both their understanding and want of control. In the course of six months, Brennan had gone missing, her team at quit, and Cam was walking the line between sanity and insanity. Booth was her last stand, her thread that kept her from quitting. She couldn't lose him in a case that she saw no happy ending for.

"I can't." He said. "What if she's alive and we gave up?"

"Seeley. There's no way she's still alive. That man you guys were chasing that night. He killed five women already. Please Seeley, please let it go. There's no happy ending. She's gone." Cam cried as she felt tears fill in her eyes, refusing to let them fall, successfully winning the battle.

Booth looked up at her. For a moment, she felt frightened. His brown eyes were lost. His shoulders slumped in a defeated way that she had never seen before. To everyone else, he seemed okay, tired, but okay. She knew better. He put endless energy into every case. She had seen him work 52 hours straight without looking as he did now. Now that she was gone.

"I can't give up on her Cam. If it were any of us, she would keep looking until she found us. She wouldn't give up until she got her answers. I can't turn from her when I know that."

"Seeley, even if she's still alive, don't you think she would try to contact us and being Brennan, succeed?" Cam asked.

"Maybe she hasn't gotten a chance yet. Maybe she's still hoping that we'll save her."

Cam wanted to tell him that it was too much to hope for. That they may be better off never knowing what happened to her instead of finding her bones like they had found so many other victims. She didn't want to and secretly she knew that Angela had quit because she had feared the same thing. Feared digging up a body, IDing it as her friend and colleague, and then needing to open Pandora's box and figuring out what happened in her final hours. Wondering if she had felt pain, fear, anger at them for not finding her.

She looked at Booth again and knew that he was afraid of the same thing, but he was different. He was a man that had been tortured, nearly killed and had killed. Here was a man that could hold his own in any fight and always come out victorious.

"Cam, if she is dead. I want to find her body." He said softly. "I want to figure out what happened and catch the bad guy. That's what she would have wanted. Besides, we'll treat it like any other case. A missing persons case."

There was no talking him out of it. She knew better than to try. "Alright, Booth. Keep looking for a lead we may have missed. I'm gonna make some calls." She said, starting for the door.

"Wait." He called after her. "What case we you talking about earlier?"

"Mother's body found. Five year old girl is missing." Cam replied and then raced down the hallway.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan spent the day cleaning up and feeling shivers run down her spine every time she turned around. Kyra was coloring on the couch and her silence unnerved Brennan. She had tried to coax more out of the girl without success. She felt horrible, questioning her own daughter on the issues concerning her father. But she needed answers.

Finally she had enough. "Kyra let's go." She said. "Let's go to the park."

Kyra shook her head. "Daddy will be mad." She said.

Brennan knelt down until she was at eye level with Kyra. "It's okay sweetie. I'll talk to him. A child needs to get out in the fresh air." She coaxed. "It'll be okay. He won't lay a hand on you."

Kyra shyly took Brennan's hand as they made their way to the car. The streets seemed familiar and Brennan smiled when she found the GPS system in the mini van. That was a machine she remembered how to work.

Once outside of the house, Kyra became more talkative. Laughing at things on the radio, chattering about dolls and the other stuff that five year olds like. Brennan felt herself ease up and the tenseness in her shoulders loosen. She put a little more weight on the pedal as she forgot about all her questions and all her worries for a moment. If only for a moment.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note:

I hope everyone liked that. Sadly, I may have confused some readers about the child. I decided to make her five for my own reasons because I have no idea how babies act. Please forgive me for my blunder. Thanks so much for reading.


	3. Black and Blue

Chapter Three

Black and Blue

Thanks to caroldpb, Splendid31, squillyfer, Sarali1983, Gemrosa, daine, TV Angel 711, BonesAddiction, shrimps1995, jade254, Mockingbird84, krazegirl, Scuddyrific, xX Melissa Xx, rae, Lisa, Aria-wolfstar, KristieM, YouAndMe Kelly, and katiedid531 for their reviews.

Disclaimer: All things pertaining to Bones belong to Hart Hanson, Kathy Reichs, FOX, and respective owners. I own nothing. I do not make any money.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Booth had no idea what strings Cam had pulled to get the two of them off the missing child case. Apparently there had been a lot of deal making and some arguing. He cared deeply for the missing child and the dead mother, but he cared more about his partner. If someone had asked him to make such a choice five years ago, he would have never been able to choose, but now, now it was different. Now it concerned Bones. It concerned someone he saw as more than a partner, at times more than a friend, and he couldn't let that go no matter how much guilt he would feel about bailing out of the case he was supposed to be working.

Cam was back in his office. "I got us out of the case for maybe one or two days. But they want us working the deceased mother's. The child will be the responsibility of another agent."

"Thanks." Booth replied gratefully. "I keep thinking what if there's something we've missed, something that holds the answer."

"We can't do this Seeley." She started.

Booth's head jerked up and she saw his jaw clench, the way it did when he was suppressing angry and a blow out.

"I meant not alone." She quickly added. "You're an FBI agent, I'm a pathologist. There are gaps in Brennan's case that we can't fill simply because we don't have the experience."

"We have to try."

"No we don't." She cut him off. "I've called Angela, Hodgins, and Zach. They're flying in tonight. All three of them."

He was surprised, completely caught off guard. He remembered when Angela and Hodgins had quit. He had yelled at them for being cowards, for not caring enough to even try. He had roared at Zach for abandonment, told him that him leaving was a sign that he had learned nothing from Brennan. "How?" He forced out.

"Told them I was reopening the case, putting it on top. I needed help." Cam said. "Angela's still angry at you, but the other two aren't."

Booth nodded. He hadn't expected with Zach or Hodgins to forgive him, but he was sure Angela would not. He hadn't forgotten the look on Angela's face when he had raged at her, burned her with his own anger and pain, completely disregarding the fact that she was feeling the same. He had exploded on Brennan's people and Angela had been caught in the cross fire. She would not forgive him so easily.

Cam placed a stack of files on his desk. "I pulled the cases that Brennan worked with convicts that weren't in jail in the time of her disappearance. I also got the file that you and Brennan were working when she disappeared. The guy that you guys were chasing was likely the guy that took her."

Booth nodded. "I'll see if I can find the guy. I mean I've tried for the past six months, but he's just disappeared. Nothing on his credit cards. No one's seen him. He just vanished."

Cam's eyebrows narrowed with slight frustration. This case was just hitting dead end after dead end with no room to make a U-turn. "Make him unvanish." She retorted.

That got a smile out of Booth and Cam would never understand why. "I intend to." He smirked and with that ran down the hall toward his car to look at every single hideout the suspect had ever used.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan was relieved to find that Kyra was able to behave like a normal child as they drove back to the two story quaint home that had become Brennan's unknown prison. She had no idea what it was, or how the illusion peacefulness covered up something much more disturbing and sinister. The child was laughing, talking about things from ponies to clouds, an inverse of the too quiet, too mature child that she had gotten to know. It was adorable and Brennan felt herself relax in her company.

That calm, however, dissipated the moment she turned into the asphalt driveway and found Mark standing by his car with a look of dark uncontained anger on his face. She stepped out gingerly and prepared herself for being yelled at or something. It didn't seem right that such a small little thing would anger him.

"Get in the house." He told them both, grabbing her arm and pushing her forward.

Kyra whimpered and stuck herself onto Brennan's leg, trembling. Brennan felt rage build in her chest as she felt the girls' fear convey into her own emotions. It wasn't right that Mark could make her so scared. She hoisted Kyra onto her hip and let herself in with Mark following close behind, almost guarding her movements. She ignored him.

"Go to your room sweetheart." She murmured, setting the five year old on the floor.

Kyra hesitated, took a look at Brennan filled with concern, then another at Mark with pure fright. Brennan gave her a little push in the back. She bolted.

She spun to face Mark.

"You are never to leave this house." Mark roared, finally losing the control he had. "You are never to leave this house without my presence or my permission!"

Brennan followed him quickly over the edge. "I went out because I felt like Kyra needed it. This house is suffocating and I can't spend all my time here! And you are not the boss of me!"

He took a menacing step toward her and she turned up her chin and met him with a fierce gaze of her own. "This is my house. I am in control here." He growled at her. "I decide what you can and cannot do."

"Just because you are a man does not mean you can order me around." She challenged, then stepped back at the expression on his face, contorted almost demon-like.

"You are going to regret saying that! You think you're so important and the queen of the world when you're nothing but a whore I took off the street. You are nothing. I am your husband and you will listen to me, unless you want to answer to another authority." He paused at those words and his expression changed again. This time with vivid jealousy.

"You were probably with another man, you whore!" He shouted, grabbing her wrists and pinning her against the white wall behind her. "You were probably not even watching Kyra and sucking face with some hotshot idiot who you think is gonna make you a lady."

She kicked him in the stomach without a conscious thought of what she was doing. His hateful words falling onto deaf ears. He lost it even more. He roared in anger as he got up and grabbed her again. He threw her across the room, an easy feat for a man his size to a woman Brennan's size. Her head smashed again the coffee table and she saw nothing but blackness.

He stood there for a moment, breathing hard with anger, hands clenched into fists. He wanted to hit her again and again for making him worry, for making him suspicious and she deserved it all. He, however, could not kill her. Not yet. Not until he found someone else to take her place. He placed a finger on her neck, satisfied that he got a pulse. With one arm, he slung her over his shoulder and carried her into the bedroom. He placed her gently on the bed, kissed her forehead, and pulled the covers over her. He locked the door when he left the room and pulled out of the driveway, racing toward someplace like his life depended on it.

As soon as the garage closed, Kyra creaked open the door to her room and slipped into Brennan's, unseen and unheard. There she sat down by Brennan and waited for her to wake up, shaking at the information she was about to divulge, knowing that Mark would kill her if she did.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Have you seen this man?" Booth demanded, holding up a photo of the suspect that he and Brennan were chasing the night he had lost her.

The junkie shook his head listlessly and Booth knew not to prod him farther. A nearby woman looked up. She was dressed in fishnet tights with clothes that left nothing to the imagination. It wasn't hard to figure out what kind of work she did.

"I saw him, maybe a few months ago. Out here you know, buying." She said.

"Where's he now?" Booth asked.

She smiled seductively, reaching a hand out to play with his tie. "Well, a fine man like yourself can't expect answers for nothing can he? I mean some of us girls gotta work for a living and well I'm willing to work tonight."

He cleared his throat and took a step back, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a twenty. "Will this do?" he asked.

She snatched it out of his hands and stuck it into her bra. Her ruby red lips curled up into another smile. "Just name the address." She said, her voice low and husky.

He shook his head. "I just want an answer. Nothing else."

She pouted, but then shrugged. "Alright sugar. Man you're looking for don't hang around here anymore. He ran off with a lot of cash from a robbery he did near here. His mama came around here, tried to get him clean. Think she's dead. Last I heard, he's in the suburbs, maybe a few blocks from here. I mean scenery changes fast."

Booth gratefully thanked her and then strode toward his car, pace fast full of purpose. He gunned the engine forward and toward the suburbs, calling Cam on the way, asking her to send him the address of any criminal activity in the area. It was likely that a guy that had screwed up in the past would do it again no matter how nice the neighborhood. As Cam told him the addresses with police calls in the past six months, he punched them into his GPS system. Two locations. He pressed harder on the pedal.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note:

Sorry about the cliffie. I'm churning over some ideas I have. I hope all the clues fit together. Hehehe. Thanks for reading!


	4. Nothing to Lose

Chapter 4

Nothing to Lose

Thanks to jerseybones, Sarali983, TV Angel 711, Gemrosa, GuestTypePerson, jade254, xX Melissa Xx, Splendid31, rae, Aria-wolfstar, and Rzappa for their reviews!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything pertaining to Bones. All rights belong to Hart Hanson, Kathy Reichs (whose books are awesome may I say), FOX, and their respective owners. No profit made.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Three separate sets of footsteps rang clearly through the ionized air of the Jeffersonian Institute lab. The first, shy, almost unsure, with a slightly shuffled sound to them. They belonged to Zach Addy. A genius with a brilliant IQ yet disjointed social skills. He was Brennan's last student and he had made her proud.

The second step were heavier as was the man who possessed them. Jack Hodgins with a beard that could compete with Santa Claus only less white. He wasn't a tall man but he wasn't short either. He was interesting and that interest was what made him attractive. He was different and a nerd down to the core, but held his own in the world and could interact without overwhelming. He had his arm slung around the shoulders of the owner of the last set of light even steps.

Angela Montenegro. Brennan's best friend, now and forever, the one that most people would consider the 'non-geek' of the squint squad. She was an interracial beauty, with Chinese blood coursing through her veins and exhibiting themselves in her dark eyes and dark hair. She lolled her head against her husband's shoulder.

Cam noticed them for the first time in months from her place of watch on the railing. She ran down to meet them and they exchanged hugs, handshakes, and everything in between.

"Where's Booth?" Angela asked.

"In the field. We got a lead on a suspect's whereabouts." She said.

Zach raised his hand.

"We're in the lab, not in school Zach. You don't have to raise your hand." Cam said, tone exasperated.

"Well, we work with evidence. Not much of anything else." Zach started slowly.

Cam gave him an uncomprehending look.

"He means that how can we help when we don't have a body or anything." Angela said, shuddering at the world 'body'.

Cam's cell phone chirped. Three second conversation where the squints registered a widening of the eyes, a slight rise in breath rate, a narrowing of the eyebrows. The news was not good.

"We may have one."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

He had knocked politely on the first location only to find that the 911 call had been over a domestic fight. It had been a very uncomfortable conversation with a nearly naked woman and her husband both flushed and probably horny as well standing before him. He was determined to get answers and while the husband explained himself, Booth noted that the woman wore no ring. It was no doubt an affair and Booth felt like he had exposed something he would have rather not known. It was usually Bones who noticed these things, not him, but yet he found himself compensating for what should have been there with him.

He pulled toward his second stop. A white house with ivy growing along side of one wall. The lawn was overgrown and there was little doubt in his mind that the tall grass had become home to many critters that Bones would only refer to by their scientific names and translate them for his benefit. He almost smiled.

He knocked on the door and got no answer. Same process, same result. He shifted his weight, agitated. Then with as a sudden impulse, slammed his foot into the lock and forced the door open. Light streamed into the dark house.

He stepped back as he collided with a scent that he had come to know too well, too vivid, too strong for his taste. The smell of death and decomposition. The scent of dying and bacteria and insects taking over to turn your death into their life. Bones had become to used to it she hadn't even winced when she smelled it, but Booth, he was different. He could never get used to it.

Panic seized him. Forgetting that there could be people there, people that could hurt him, he surged into the house, ignoring dust, moths, and the darkness.

It was in the kitchen that he found it.

A skeleton, with bits of flesh clinging to the natural matter of calcium phosphate. It's head leaned to one side against the counter that had lost its natural sheen. Its arms hung limply by its sides with a red sash tied around the lower arm. It still had an outfit of jeans and a T-shirt. Flies buzzed around still, gorged after their dinner of human flesh.

"Bones." Booth whispered, tears threatening to fall, kneeing down beside her body. "Bones."

He looked away, unable to keep looking at her. Temperance Brennan, a renowned forensic anthropologist with three degrees, the one person that could give justice to the victims that were long denied retribution, reduced to this? Another corpse left to the insects in a deserted house. What if it wasn't? What if she was still alive? It could be the suspect he was looking for. Yet this could be her. It tore him apart that he could not tell.

Pinching himself to keep from giving in to tears, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed Cam.

"We got a body." He said softly.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan stirred and found Kyra inches from her face.

"Kyra, what are you doing?" She asked, sitting up, wincing at the way the mattress pressed against her battered and bruised body.

"You asked me to warn you last time." She whimpered in reply.

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked, confused. She shifted her weight and peered at her daughter.

"Daddy always gives you this stuff after you two have a fight and the next morning you don't remember anything." She cried. "You found out last time and told me that when you forgot I had to remind you again. You promised we would get out of here!"

Brennan stared in wide-eyed horror. The girl broke down in hysterical sobs, falling into Brennan's arms. She patted her awkwardly on the back, but already her mind was searching itself. Rather searching what should have been there.

What was true and what wasn't? She didn't know. Kyra obviously didn't either or else she would have spilled. She was going to unravel this mystery but she couldn't if she kept getting interrupted.

"Kyra, do you know where he keeps the stuff that he uses on me?" She asked.

Kyra shook her head, her curls bouncing in every direction. She sniffled.

Brennan sighed and closed her eyes. She searched for ideas and then pulled herself to her feet. The stuff was probably a drug. She had to find it and replace it with some harmless substance before she was robbed of another chance of escape.

"What does it look like?" She coaxed Kyra.

Kyra pondered her answer. "It's little round white circles."

Brennan couldn't think of a drug that could do it. Many had the same side affects and properties. She couldn't narrow down on one. She had to find the stash.

"Ok Kyra, we're gonna find them okay?" She said. "Let's hurry."

Kyra obeyed without protest and the two of them divided and conquered, running around the house like their lives depended on it. In a way it did. To Brennan, life was freedom beyond the walls that she now called her prison.

"FOUND THEM!" Kyra yelled at the top of her lungs.

Brennan followed her voice and raced to find a bottle underneath the sink. It was half full with little white pills that taunted her as she tried to figure out what they were without avail.

Kyra looked at her for further instructions. Brennan shook the pills and thought about it. An idea began to form in her mind. She knew better than to expose pills to a five year old, but there was nothing left to lose. The child was already scarred and the only thing that Brennan could at least try to give her was a home far away from the unstable man she had called her father.

Scars heal. Death didn't and after an example of her husband's rage, she had little doubt that if either of them succeeded at angering him enough, he would kill them. The pills were an example of his quest for control, a dangerous example that gave them no time and nothing to lose.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note:

Slight cliffie. Sorry. I like this story. It's fun to write so I'm hoping everyone's enjoying it.


	5. Deja Vu

Chapter Five

Déjà vu

Thanks to TV Angel 711, bb-4ever, KristieM, Grace, Jordan, Erin, Aria-wolfstar, Splendid31, jerseybones, riviera41797, boneswhisper, rae, xX Melissa Xx, and inconsume for their reviews.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to Bones. All rights belong to Hart Hanson, Kathy Reichs, FOX, and their respective owners, none of which include me. No profit made. Make that no money made at all.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan held her breath as she heard Mark's car pull into the driveway with a jerk. She had driven Kyra off to bed and told her to stay there. She now sat alone in the master bedroom, gripping the covers tightly after locking herself in, as if she had never left the room.

A door slammed. She took a ragged breath. A shuffle of steps, more cabinets and doors slamming. A roar of anger.

Mark threw the door open with an expression filled with dark rage that flushed his face and contorted his handsome features into something almost demonic. She felt a chill of fear race down her spine despite her self assigned goal to hold her ground. As if her body responded without her mind, her chin lifted and met him square in the eyes.

"You got rid of the pills!" Mark yelled at her, grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her hard.

She wrenched herself away and kicked him in the stomach. "Who are you really? Don't lie to me! Tell me who I am!"

Mark recovered too quickly for her tastes, far faster than her expectations. He grabbed her by the hair and threw her onto the ground, standing over her.

"You wanna know who you are?" He hissed at her. He knelt down and pulled her head off the ground by her hair and put his face close to hers. "You're a loser who has no one but me. I took you in. I gave you affection and the love that you don't deserve. You deserve to be buried next to the body's you work with."

His eye caught on the half closed drawer by her bed. It was only slightly open but he could tell that it had.

"What's this?" he grinned, his smile making Brennnan's stomach twist itself into complicated knots.

He pulled out the half empty pill bottle and shook it in front of her face. She lurched herself to her feet and threw a sidekick at his shoulder, knocking him backward. She started toward the door and then thought _Kyra. _The thought cut through her survival instincts and she froze, feral instincts and natural reactions forgotten.

Mark took his chance. He covered her mouth from behind and pulled her to him. She struggled against him, trying to break free from his iron hold. He was however, much taller and had had time to learn her tricks and now use them against her. He lowered his arm until it tightened around her neck.

She slammed her mouth shut as she struggled, but then felt his hand cover her nose. Her lungs screamed for the air that was denied to her. Her fighting became almost desperate but the need for air made her weak. She kept her mouth clamped shut but began to feel darkness start to cling to the edges of her vision.

Finally she gasped for breath. Mark shoved a few pills down her throat. She coughed and gagged and then slumped against him. Satisified, he lifted her in his arms and laid her onto the bed. He stroked her cheek and kissed her forehead, as he pulled the covers up over her.

"I'm sorry." He murmured.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The body found in the abandoned house had been airlifted back to the Jeffersonian and was now surrounded by squints in every direction. It wasn't going anywhere.

Booth hung around behind them, unsure of how he fit into the picture. With Bones, his place was right by her side. Picking things up if she dropped them, trying to keep up with her scientific lingo, that he was only starting to get a hang of, much to Bones amusement.

His heart twisted at the thought. The body could be Bones. The body could be all that's left of the woman who had done and changed so much for so many people.

"It's a man." Zach concluded.

Booth blinked. "What?"

"This skeleton belongs to a man. You know the opposite of a female." Zach started.

"I know what a man is." Booth cut him off. "It was just a reaction."

"Oh."

Booth breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that Bones could still be alive. Could still be waiting for him. It almost made him want to punch the air with some happiness.

"This guy probably died from an overdose." Cam stated, pointing to a bandanna tied around his arm. "Probably injection."

"I'll scan the skull and see if I get a face." Angela offered, earning a nod from Cam.

Booth held up a hand. "What about Bones? I mean this guy's case can wait. He's dead. Bones could still be alive and we'll be wasting time."

Cam shook her head. "Booth, you need to focus. We can't throw away every case for Dr. Brennan. We have our duties and responsibilities."

Booth opened his mouth to argue. Surprisingly enough, Angela cut him off instead of Cam.

"I don't necessarily agree with Cam. I mean it's good to stay objective, but we're human and it's Tempe we're talking about. " She said. "But what if this guy's connected? I mean he's may be the guy you two were chasing the night she was taken. Maybe he stashed her somewhere and samples from his body could lead us to her."

"I bet I could pull something from the samples collected from his house." Hodgins stated.

Cam motioned for them to get started. Zach was peering at the body though a magnifying lens that made his eye appear huge.

"He died about three weeks ago." Zach mentioned.

"Finish analysis." Cam ordered.

Zach nodded.

Booth shifted his weight, his jaw clenching with frustration. The squints could do so much to help, they could almost solve the case without him and it drove Booth crazy that he couldn't help. When Bones was there, he knew his job was to take care of her; make the arrest, close the case, keep Bones safe. It was that simple. She needed him at the end of cases for questioning and arrests, while she handed him everything he needed to lead him to the bad guy. That was their system. That was their method. Now that her half was gone, he was caught off balance, off center, and longing for that harmony he used to have.

Cam was looking at him with uncertainty. She loved Booth; she thought he was the sweetest guy she had ever met, caring, loyal, honest. She, also however, knew that the woman he wanted was her rival and sometime friend. Temperance Brennan. The woman that Cam had once thought looked too good to only bestow her face on people who could no longer see, but had changed her opinion quickly into respect.

A small part of her wanted Brennan not to return, not necessarily dead, but just away from Booth. Another, bigger, part of her told her that without her, however, Booth would fall apart and Cam wasn't strong enough, or the person to pick up the pieces. She looked at him again.

"I'm going to go back to the scene where she was taken. Maybe something will turn up."

"Yeah." Cam replied.

They looked at each other for a split second before both spun on their heels in opposite directions. The unspoken thought between them was a depressing one. One the night that Brennan had disappeared, they had torn apart the warehouse looking for any clues, any sign that would lead them to her. They had practically stripped the building of everything, only to find nothing.

They both knew that another visit wouldn't change anything yet neither was brave enough to admit it or speak it out of their most secret thoughts.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan jerked awake to a clear and sunny day filled with the chatter of a birds and the busy buzzing of insects darting from one blossom to another in hopes of finding a sweet reward within the rays of magnificent colors.

The sunlight danced across her face, falling in a cascade over her brown hair. She sat up on the bed and looked around her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


	6. Leads and Dead Ends

Chapter Six

Leads and Dead Ends

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan breathed a sigh of relief when she realized that she was alone. "My name is supposedly Emily Shelby. I have a daughter named Kyra." She murmured under her breath, her voice barely audible to her own ears.

She relaxed slightly when she confirmed that her memories of the previous day were untouched. She placed two fingers on her neck and felt her pulse, it seemed stable. How she knew that she had no idea. She stretched her limbs feeling herself relax further as the knots in her muscles loosened.

Something struck her thoughts. _The dead bodies you work with_.

Her eyes narrowed, lost in what those words could mean. Her job, she didn't know she had one. Her job had to do with dead bodies. Forensics? Cop? Gravedigger? Something along those lines. Logic told her that that was where she had to start to find her real identity. Emily Shelby just didn't seem to sit well with her. Despite the daughter that seemed too smart for a child as young as she was, despite the fact that she seemed to hold no job and yet lived in a nicely furnished house. Mainly it was the man she had supposedly married. She could not believe she would pick someone like him and not see through his masks.

She eased herself out of bed, throwing back covers that were too heavy for her liking, and peered at the empty bottle lying on the floor by the bed. She was lucky, there had no lasting harm from the amount of aspirin she had taken in place of whatever drug he had given her.

Now she had something to go on. He got careless when he was sure she would lose her memory by the following day. He had given her a lead.

Her job.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Booth paced through the darkness of the abandoned warehouse. Even in broad daylight, inside it was as dark as what you expect from an underground cave. The leaky pipes did little to ease the sinister mood. Shadows made by his flashlight danced across the worn walls and the smell of musk and mold wafted around him.

He stepped further and then noticed something caked on his shoe. Mud. He started to shake it off when he froze. Mud? Inside? He shot his flashlight closer to the mess on his leather shoe and pulled out a latex glove from his pocket. He stopped and almost laughed when he realized that he had picked up the habit from his partner.

They had bickered over the fact that she always kept a pair of gloves in her pocket just in case she ran into a body. He had called her overzealous. She had called him under prepared. After her disappearance, he kept a pair on him at all times. It was one time in his life where it was good to be overzealous.

He slipped a sample into the glove, careful not to touch it with his bare hands. He had seen Hodgins collect soil samples before, but he had never expected to it himself. Some kind of instinct just told him it was important. And at the moment, every little bit helped.

He recalled the night of her disappearance. They hadn't noticed anything out of character surrounding the scene. A drop of water hit him on the head. He looked up. There was a leaky pipe directly above his head. That explained why he could've missed the dirt grains the first time around. He had assumed that it had come from his own shoe when he ran in after his partner.

The rain from the past few days may have caused water to drip from the pipe and onto the soil, making it run. It could be nothing. It could be everything.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brennan checked in on Kyra who was still fast asleep. Her hands cupped around her cheeks that still retained her baby fat. She shut the door quietly behind her. Mark was nowhere to be found.

There was another unanswered question lingering on her mind. How had he known she had left the house?

She was pretty sure the house had no cameras or else he would have seen her swapping the pills with aspirin. There had to be something else. Could she risk leaving again just to see how he did it?

_Not yet_. She decided. She couldn't risk letting him make her overdose on her own decoy. He would probably get more drugs to mess with her memory soon and she had to find them as soon as he got them and switch, until then she had to be on her best behavior.

Her fight or flight instinct told her to grab Kyra and run as fast as she could out of there, but she held back. She had no idea who she was, no idea where to go. She didn't know if Mark would follow her or hurt her. The only thing she was sure of was that Mark was deranged. There was something sickening wrong with him and if she tried to run he may kill her to keep that control. No, she had to bide her time, find out who she was before she could bolt.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Booth thrust the soil sample at Hodgins who looked at him blankly.

"I don't do prints from gloves man." Hodgins stated.

"It's a soil sample. I found mud on the floor of the scene. Must've been made by the rain and the pipes."

"We collected soil from the bottom of John Doe's shoe." Hodgins informed him. "I'll check to see if it's a match."

Booth nodded, his mind far away, in happier times, during which Brennan had been part of the investigation, ranting off vocabulary that he didn't understand. It had irritated him, but now, now it seemed like one of the blessings that had been so plainly thrust in his face, yet he had completely neglected to see and cherish.

"Did you hear me?" Hodgins asked.

"Huh? What?" Booth shook himself out of his trance.

"The sediment on the shoe was of desert origin. High in alkaline and sodium nitrate."

"Wait are you saying she's in the desert?" Booth asked, confusion clearly evident in his expression.

"It's possible, perhaps Nevada or Arizona." Hodgins confirmed, "But it could be nothing."

"Or everything." Angela interjected, coming into the room with a file tucked under her arm.

"Match the two substances." Booth ordered.

Hodgins nodded.

"I got a face off the skull." Angela informed the FBI agent.

He leaned his hand on the back of her chair, looking over her shoulder as she powered up the computer program that would put her sketch in 3D form. A face popped up and a grim expression filled his face.

"That's him. That's the guy we were chasing that night." Booth confirmed.

Angela nodded, wild earrings dangling from her ears. "There goes our number one suspect."

"We're back where we started." Booth groaned.

"Cause of death was an overdose." Zach called coming in.

Booth groaned again. No connections, no leads, except the soil. Except some gradients of dirt that could lead them back to his partner. He crossed his fingers.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The computer didn't work. Neither did the TV. Brennan sat back on the couch with a look of well contained frustration. Kyra sat on the other side of the room wearing an expression of curiosity.

"You don't watch TV." Kyra informed her.

"What?" She asked, sitting up.

"You don't watch TV. That's what Daddy said. He thought it was funny. He said you were a genius but didn't know who anyone was."

Brennan took this in. "Great." She muttered. "I work with dead bodies. I don't watch TV. That is all I really know about myself."

"What else did Daddy say about me?" Brennan coaxed gently.

Kyra looked thoughtful. "He said you were beautiful. And that you write books and you could tell me stories."

Brennan raised an eyebrow. "Really? Books?"

Kyra nodded eagerly. "You told me a story once and it was wonderful. Better than Bambi."

"I'm sorry I don't know what that is." Brennan said before she could stop herself.

"He's a deer, a baby deer and he's friends with a skunk."

Brennan wrinkled her face in an expression that conveyed that she was still lost. Deer didn't befriend skunks. However it was clear what Kyra's intentions were though she was too shy to ask directly. Brennan could not resist those wide eyes. She racked her nonexistent memory.

"What story do you want me to tell you?" Brennan asked, easing herself back into the chair.

Kyra climbed down from her perch on the armchair across the room and settled beside her, more confident now that Brennan was about to do something she was familiar with, something every child loved.

"The Storyteller's Daughter." She said without a moment's hesitation.

For a minute, Brennan was lost in confusion, blankness, emptiness. Then it hit her. If her memory had gone, there had been no way she could remember a story she knew. She must've made it up. _I'm a writer._ Another lead. Empty. Useless. A hint but no confirmation, no way to even confirm it.

However when Kyra nestled against her, as if the child had abandoned her walls of distance, she was pulled from the thoughts and tales begin to fill her mouth. It came naturally, almost as if it was something she was born with. The story seemed familiar as if something she could reach out and grab from her childhood.

And for a moment, she escaped. Escaped the confinements of the house, escaped the terror that was her false life. She escaped it and was transported into a world where magic and the unbelievable was possible.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cam wasn't working on the Brennan case. She wanted to, but she had struck a deal with her boss. Her team could work on the cold case, but someone always had to be working on the current case. The missing girl and her deceased mother.

The girl had been repeated missing several months earlier but the mother's body was only recently discovered. Cam was analyzing them as she wondered what the rest of the team was doing. Booth was probably beside himself, reworking every theory that stuck him. Angela was probably trying to pull things out of nothing with Hodgins right beside her. Zach would be overanalyzing their limited amount of leads and evidence, trying to explain everything with logic and math.

Here she was cut off from the rest of team. She always had been. They wasted no time reporting things to Brennan when she had been around. And after a while Cam had accepted that even though she was the boss, the team simply felt closer to the anthropologist.

She had already collected samples from the body and was now working on cause of death. The phone startled her from her work, making her jump.

The crime scene unit. Something urgent. Talking fast. Cam's mind raced to comprehend. When she did, she froze. Then ran to the doorway.

"BOOTH!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Kyra was now asleep. Brennan was left in the silence, filled only with the child's breathing. The story's magic has woven itself around her, giving her a sense of calm, a sense of purpose. Her mind felt more at ease, more ready to tackle the problem at hand.

She thought about her escape plan. No way she was leaving Kyra in this psycho's home. The more she thought about it, the more she was convinced that her life with Mark was not the life she was supposed to have. He had dropped too many hints and expected that he could wipe them clean, but she had outsmarted him in that department. Simply throwing them away would have tipped him off. She had to fake hiding them but replacing them. He would expect one kind of resistance but not both.

She realized that she hadn't completely explored the house. There could be a clue, left behind by from careless night. In her previous night, she had been in a frenzy to buy herself some time, she hadn't checked every door or the potential hidden cellar door that people heard so much about. Then today, she had been trying to power the electronics for some hint of the outside world. She never had a chance. She had to now.

A car jerked into the driveway, pulling her from her plans. Mark was home.

She pulled Kyra a little closer to her. She had to pretend she still had no idea. Even though he made stomach churn she had to play the 'wife' unknowing and unassuming and not suspicious. She prayed that her acting skills were as good as her storytelling skills.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Note:

There's the next chapter. That story Brennan was telling wasn't my idea. It was actually one of my favorite child stories, I thought it would interesting to add a story filled with magic and love, since Brennan in her usual state would never believe in it. I thought maybe the story could have come from when she was younger and was more like the rest of us who like fairy tales even though we say we don't. :Guilty look:


	7. Backward Loop

Backward Loop

Disclaimer: I do not own Bones. I wish I did. No profit made.

---------

Booth didn't get what they were saying. The squints were squawking excitedly in a manner he could not comprehend.

"Ok English for the non geek speaking group." He says.

Zach looked slightly miffed but he didn't care.

"The case that we were originally called on, which I'm working on my own has a woman who was killed through a backward loop." Cam said.

"As was the guy you and Brennan were chasing on the night she disappeared." Jack added.

"But I thought you said he died of an overdose." Booth stated.

Zach shook his head. "That was my initial prediction. Upon further analysis it was determined that cervical vertebrate was actually perimortem instead of postmortem damage which it originally appeared like. The backward loop of the noose was held in place by a man much larger than our victim."

"Backward loop?"

"It's seen in yo-yo's." Angela said. "No one kills with them unless it's a M.O."

"So they're connected." Booth stated. It wasn't a question. This was the beginning of the break he had been hoping for. The beginning. The end he was still unsure about.

"Anything else?" he asked.

Angela was studying the face of the woman they had found. It was badly battered making her appearance difficult to envision. Not so for the young artist who can picture a face from only skeletal remains.

"Oh my gosh." She breathed.

That wasn't good.

-----

He was home. She wasn't scared. Not this time. She had learned her act and was doing it well. She greeted him with a smile and a hug, feeling her skin literally crawl at the contact.

She followed him to bed, never letting him know that something was not right. However when she awoke in the middle of the night, she found Mark watching her, his eyes cold. She found herself shivering in the too warm weather. Kyra was already asleep and she felt a tug at her heart. They had to go. They had to go soon. No matter what.

----------------

She's smart but he believed she would never be as smart as him. For the time being everything seemed alright but he felt the restless feeling overcome him again. He was bored. He wanted the excitement of the hunt and of making everyone including his lovely prey dance in frenzied circles.

He glanced at her. She was awake, her breathing was shallow. He knew she was awake. What she was thinking was anyone's guess. He would miss her, but he couldn't deny his restlessness, after all he deserved to be happy didn't he?

---------------------

She had set up her computer to compare the picture of the Cam's victim alongside the picture from Brennan's Jeffersonian ID.

"Wow." Cam said.

Booth felt a shiver go down his spine at the picture of Brennan's striking blue gray eyes peering back him from the screen. He remembered finding the ID on her desk, knowing she may never put it on again. Something tugged at his heart. The feeling was getting harder and harder to push away.

"They look identical." Jack started.

"Facial structure is slightly different." Zach argued, pointing a finger at the screen.

"That's not the point!" Booth yelled, slamming his fist down.

The squints, including Cam jumped and stared.

"The point is that this psycho killer has an M.O. Brunettes with blue eyes. Bones just happens to fall into the category. It's not enough to narrow down the field." He was frustrated. He needed answers. Needed them now. Needed her. His frustration was exploding all over the place, all over the people that were his only chance of finding his Bones, yet he couldn't control it. Almost didn't want to.

"Booth, we're not finished." Angela said soothingly. She was always the peacemaker.

Booth let out a long breath, willing it to calm him. It did…barely.

"The killer's M.O. is brilliant women. Cam's vic was a television producer with like three hit shows. Brennan is naturally the top anthropologist in her field and writes bestsellers in her nonexistent spare time." Angela said. "We just have to go back and find more linked cases."

"I can do that." Booth said. "I can do that."

For once he wasn't helpless. He was doing something and not just watching other people do what he wished he could at times like these.

-----------------------------

She awoke with the urge to run. Instinct told her today was the day. Now was the time. She was sure. Her plan had to be set in place, but she still didn't know how he was tracking her movements. He knew immediately the moment she had left the house. There had to be a way. Electronically? Video cameras? She shivered at the latter.

He wasn't home and she began sweeping the house top to bottom with Kyra tagging along behind her as curious as ever. She felt affection for the child, bubbly inspite of frightening circumstances. There were moments where the child became terrified, but whenever Mark left the house there seemed to be a lift on the dread hanging over them. For the time being, they were safe.

Her hand touched a crack in the frame. She noted her location, garage door.

"Hey Kyra, hand me the magnifying glass on Mark's desk won't you?" she asked.

Kyra shook her head, nervous. "Daddy said never to touch anything on his desk. Never to go near it."

Brennan glanced at Kyra's pale face and let it go. There was something in the door frame and she would find out what it was without making Kyra frightened.

"Ok then why don't you go upstairs and play for a little bit while I finish cleaning up."

Kyra hesitated, then bounded up the stairs and into her room.

Brennan grabbed the magnifying glass off Mark's desk and examined the crack. Her keen eyes caught the glimmer of metal welded deep within. Her actions felt comfortable as if she had been used to examining nooks and crannies for things not meant to be found. Familiar.

Trip to the bathroom, back with tweezers, slowly pulling it out.

Five minutes later a blinking microchip flashed back at her in all mock innocence.

---------------------------

Five women five cases altogether. Jack let out a whistle.

"Okay let's find more similarities." Booth said, shooting Jack a glare.

"First victim, disappeared one and a half years ago. Brown hair blue eyes. CEO of Zonk Corporations." Cam said.

"Second one. Disappeared about a year ago. Same physical traits. Lawyer. Civil cases." Zach said.

"Third. Last seen eight months ago. Surgeon." Jack.

"Last two are Brennan and Cam's vic." Angela adds.

"Kelly." Cam corrects her. "Cam's vic is named Kelly."

Pause then added. "She has a daughter whose missing. Maybe the killer took her."

"Room for a lot of possibilities." Zach said.

Booth tapped his fingers on the glass table. "I'm going to dig deeper on each of the files. Bring you guys all the evidence. There has to be a place all these women touched paths with the killer Bones included."

-----------------------

It was strange to find so much so long after her disappearance, but Booth knew why. It was what she always told him. Letting the cases affect you while your investigating, letting them make you upset clouds your judgments, makes you blind to things that would otherwise stood out to you.

So long after their grief is commonplace, normal, expected. Happy endings are just a wish in the distance, nothing else. The squints were expecting to find a body. Realities of their job. It should have been his reality too, but he wasn't expecting to find her body. He expected to find her. Something would've told him if she was dead. He would've known. After all those moments spent together, he would know. His gut told him that she was still out there, still fighting, waiting for him to bring her home from her nightmare. Their nightmare.

-----------------------

Author's Note:

Sorry that was short guys. I still so busy. Why do they call it a break when they give you a bunch of work to do during break? It doesn't make sense. Anyway so sorry the post has been so late. I've been buried in work and other things that have been causing me a lot of grief. I'll try and do better, but I won't make promises I can't keep. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!


End file.
